Bloomberg India has pulled out of a multilateral military exercise hosted by Russia next month, citing the coronavirus pandemic. A defense ministry statement said that India had decided not to send a contingent to the Kavkaz-2020 event in Russia “in view of pandemic and consequent difficulties in exercise.” Around 20 nations are expected to participate in the exercise, which is ...

Bloomberg The European Union called for new elections to be held in Belarus, just as President Alexander Lukashenko makes plans to travel to Moscow in the coming weeks to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, wrote in Journal du Dimanche that a new ballot is needed, with the Organization for Security and Cooperation ...

Bloomberg The military coup in Mali raised alarm across West Africa, a region under threat for years from extremists that can ill afford more instability. Yet at home, it’s largely seen as a harbinger of progress. Weeks of public unrest and the final ouster of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was the culmination of anxiety over his failure to steer the ...